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Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews, December 1999, p. 836-843, Vol. 63, No. 4
Department of Biochemistry, Case Western
Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio
44106,1 and Department of Microbiology
and Immunology, Northwestern University School of Medicine,
Chicago, Illinois 606112
DNA integration is a unique enzymatic process shared by all retroviruses and retrotransposons. During integration, double-stranded linear viral DNA is inserted into the host genome in a process catalyzed by the virus-encoded integrase (IN). The mechanism involves a series of nucleophillic attacks, the first of which removes the terminal 2 bases from the 3' ends of the long terminal repeats and of the second which inserts the viral DNA into the host genome. IN specifically recognizes the DNA sequences at the termini of the viral DNA, juxtaposing both ends in an enzyme complex that inserts the viral DNA into a single site in a concerted manner. Small duplications of the host DNA, characteristic of the viral IN, are found at the sites of insertion. At least two host proteins, HMG-I(Y) and BAF, have been shown to increase the efficiency of the integration reaction.
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Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Retroviral DNA Integration
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Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Microbiology and Immunology, Northwestern University School of
Medicine, Chicago, IL 60611. Phone: (312) 503-1166. Fax: (312)
503-1339. E-mail: j-leis{at}nwu.edu.
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